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The McHenry County Board is seeking applications for someone to lead the McHenry Regional Office of Education after it voted to remove Regional Superintendent Leslie Schermerhorn from office Tuesday.
The office now is vacant and being run by Assistant Regional Superintendent Michael Freeman until a new superintendent can be appointed by the County Board.
The county has 60 days to appoint someone to the job and interested applicants should email County Board Chairman Mike Buehler at MJBuehler@mchenrycountyil.gov a resume or short bio, according to a news release.
Regional offices of education have several duties, including teacher certification, truancy enforcement, administering GED exams, and auditing school districts in the county to ensure financial viability and compliance with state curriculum requirements, according to the release.
State law also has several requirements for regional superintendents. They must have a master’s degree, 20 hours of credit in professional education at a graduate level and have a valid all-grade supervisory license, state limited supervisory license, state life supervisory license or valid administrative license. A minimum of four years of teaching experience and at least two years of supervising duties in a public school also is required.
Applicants for the position must live in the boundaries of the McHenry County Regional Office of Education, which has almost the same as the boundaries of the county.
Schermerhorn ran for the office as a Republican, so state law also requires the new applicants to have voted on a Republican ballot in the most recent primary they participated in.
The position of regional superintendent will be up for election in November 2022 with a new four-year term beginning on July 1, 2023. Schermerhorn was elected to the office in 2014 and 2018 after not facing any opponents.
Schermerhorn was removed from office on Tuesday by the County Board after six years of failed state audits and numerous issues at the office, including organization structure and instances of improperly accounting funds.